


Chasing You

by Saanak



Category: Carmen Sandiego (Cartoon 2019)
Genre: F/F, Light Angst, Player knows what's up, idiots who don't talk about their feelings, mostly canon compliant til 1.08, the whole Red team makes an appearance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-02
Updated: 2019-02-18
Packaged: 2019-10-21 02:44:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 5,638
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17634539
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Saanak/pseuds/Saanak
Summary: "It was 4.30, Julia was exhausted, and supposed to be up at 7 to go chase the woman who had just been in her room."ORIvy gets hurt and Carmen panicks.





	1. Chapter 1

Julia Argent was many things, but a fool she was not.

Sure, it might have taken a second too long to realize who she was talking to in the train, but really, can you blame her? The woman who had sat across from her was… marvellous, dazzling. And yes, Julia could continue and try to look into her inner thesaurus for every adjective describing Carmen Sandiego’s beauty and charisma.

But – not the time or place.

Why, you may ask, was it not the time or place? Well, someone was hurt. And bleeding. Badly. On the carpet of her hotel room. At 3 am.

Someone who was half-carried and half-dragged in by the one and only Carmen Sandiego.

“Wha-“ – “Could we ask the questions when my friend isn’t bleeding all over the floor, please?” the thief asked, as if she had any right to barge in.

But again, Julia was no fool. “Tell me what happened or I will call Devineaux, and the police.”

Carmen, who had carefully lowered her friend on the couch, looked briefly taken aback. “You have to take you friend to the hospital, miss Sandiego.”

Carmen sighed “I know. But it’s too public a place, and I can’t go there without a disguise. I was hoping to stabilize her here and then take her to a clinic.” While explaining, she was ripping her coat to try and stop the bleeding on the woman’s – girl even – thigh.

Julia observed Carmen for a few seconds. “You clearly have no idea what you’re doing, let me do this”. She kneeled before the couch, shoving lightly Carmen out of the way. “And go get me the first aid kit in the bathroom.”

La femme rouge almost protested, but the look in Julia’s eyes deterred her to do so. When Carmen returned with the kit, her hair was in a ponytail just like in the train. She looked younger, and more vulnerable than when she was wearing her notorious coat and hat. Julia thanked her while taking the kit. “So, are you going to tell me what happened?” she asked as she worked on the wounds.

“Will you let us leave if I do?”

“Given that you’re the criminal and I represent the law AND that I’m breaking said law by helping you, I don’t think you’re in any position to distrust me.” Having to concentrate on something as tedious as wound tending had always made her snappy, she couldn’t help it.

Carmen chuckled. “You’re right, I’m sorry.” She paused for an instant, seeming to prepare her next words carefully. “Ivy and I were on a retrieval mission. Some old… colleagues of mine weren’t too happy about that, and sent one of their agents to stop us.”

She tried to stay vague, but keeping details on how Ivy had gotten hurt could have consequences. Tigress had been vicious this time.

After a while, Julia declared that it was safe to move Ivy. “You can borrow some of my clothes for your disguise. But you should hurry, I won’t be at ease until I know she’s in proper care.”

“Thank you Jules,” Carmen said as Ivy slowly regained consciousness, “I owe you”.

And they disappeared into the night. It was 4.30, Julia was exhausted, and supposed to be up at 7 to go chase the woman who had just been in her room.

Maybe, after all, she was a bit of a fool.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so my other fics rarely get so much success, so now I'm nervous about posting this new chapter ^^" but for real, thanks to everyone who let a kudo or a comment !

“So tell me”, a voice behind her asked the following night, “how come an Interpol agent knows so much about first aid?”

Julia did not scream, and for that she was kind of proud of herself. She turned to face the woman who had – again - entered her room without her consent. “I used to volunteer at La Croix rouge when I was a student. I got a bit of training there.”

“I’m impressed” Carmen confessed. She was back to her usual hat and coat and oozed confidence as she had in the train. She smiled while adding “And I must say, I was not expecting you to be so intense under stressful conditions.”

Julia chose to ignore that comment. “And how is your friend doing?”

“Aw, look at you, caring for criminals”, Carmen teased, sitting herself on the couch. “She’s quite alright. She won’t be out in the field for the next month though.”

“Are you sure it’s a good idea to bring teens into your line of work?”

Carmen’s face grew serious. “No, I’m not. But their guardian was… not a good person.” She sighed. “Ivy wasn’t even supposed to be with me yesterday. Our opponent managed to cut off our communication with my indicator and when Ivy got hurt I panicked.”

“And came straight here?” The silence that followed her question was answer enough, as Carmen avoided meeting her eyes. “How did you know I wouldn’t turn you in?”

“I assumed a history amateur would never say no to a good story”. 

That certainly was one way to put it. “Which you didn’t actually deliver, or you are truly a terrible story teller”.

“Ooh, the sass is strong in this one. What can I say, I had to keep you on your toes” the thief replied, smiling like a Cheshire cat as she approached Julia.

But the detective had started seeing through Carmen’s game, and stood up. Surprised by the sudden movement, Carmen backed off a little, allowing Julia to regain some semblance of control. “You got lucky last night, miss Sandiego, I would advise you to be more careful in your… errands next time” Julia declared, crossing her arms.

Carmen frowned. She seemed hurt. And… disappointed? Art and history were Jules’ things, people’s micro-expressions… not so much. “You’re right Jules, I should be more careful. Plan not five escape routes, but ten. Train my partners and I harder.”

She headed for the window through which she had come in and stopped just before reaching it. “Become the perfect thief, the one you would never catch”.

And she was gone – again. And this time, something told Julia that she wouldn’t see the thief anytime soon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this got somewhat angsty? I just wanted them to smooch I swear !  
> What did y'all think ?!  
> As usual, you can come yell at me on tumblr ! I'm alexdumas-ghost there !


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So turns I'm really bad at planning multi-chapter fics? It was supposed to be two chapters at most, and this will be at least 4, so. The whole Red gang is here for this chapter!

The twins had never seen Carmen so fidgety.

Ever since the incident with Coach Brunt, Shadowsan and the French detective, the thief had been restless. She always made a point to tell them as much as possible, and she had already told them the story of how she had been found as a baby. The Shadowsan factor seemed to make her reconsider a few things.

But the twins felt like something else was also troubling her. They had talked to Player about it, but he had no idea either what could possibly be the problem. They had a whole new hard-drive to decode, which meant that they had work for at least a year.

Finally, two weeks after Devineaux was held captive by VILE, the twins – and Player via their secure video network – sat Carmen down to try to work out what was wrong. “Guys, what is this about? Is something wrong?” their boss asked, sitting on the red couch of their favourite hideout place.

“We don’t know, you tell us”, Ivy replied.

“What do you mean? Nothing’s wrong”. But her eye contact felt forced and the absolute stillness of her body betrayed her.

“Carmen”, Player said softly, “I’ve known you for a while now, and I’ve never seen you like this. We can’t make you tell us, but maybe we can help.”

“Yeah! Even if it’s love advice, we’re super knowledgeable about that too!” Zack chimed in. Ivy elbowed him.

Carmen took a deep breath, and looked at her friends. After all this time they were practically family – maybe they could help her make sense of her own thoughts? “It’s about… Jules.”

“Jules?” the twins echoed. “Who’s that?”

“Devineaux’ partner” Player answered. “The one who helped with the Ivy situation.”

“Ooooh” the twins said in unison. Ivy asked, brows creased “But she’s cool – and probably saved my leg. So what’s the problem with her?”

“I don’t know” Carmen replied. “I mean, I think she might believe that I’m behind Devineaux’ kidnapping?”

“Well, it’s not true, but how is that a problem?” Player seemed as confused as the twins. The thief sighed. “That’s the thing, I don’t know why it’s bothering me!”

“Could it be because you both weirdly trusted each other and now you’re afraid that she will hate you?" All eyes turned to Zack. “What? I might be a bit slow, but I’m capable of emotional intelligence you know!”

“That would make sense. But how do I fix that?”

“Are you sure it does need to be fixed?” Player asked. They could see him playing with his hand spinner as he talked “If she works for ACME, whatever that is, we can’t be sure that she won’t arrest you on the spot!”

Carmen had already thought about that, but “We might need her assistance again. Not having her as an ally – or at least not a foe, could be detrimental later on.” She knew they could go without Julia’s help. But, she reasoned, trying to find a logical explanation to her distress at the idea of Julia hating her, they would be better off _with_ said help.

She needed them to be on board if she decided to take the risk to go see the French agent. They considered her argument carefully; all three of them quiet for a few seconds – even Zack.

“If you think it’s worth the risk Red, you should go see her”. The twins agreed.

She let out a sigh of relief “All right then! Player, could you go and hack some hotel accounts to know where she’s staying?”

* * *

 

It was 9 pm when someone knocked on Julia’s door. No one knew where she stayed, except a few ACME agents, and they had never come in person before. She was immediately on edge. Could Devineaux have gotten worse? No – they would have called, she reasoned.

The knocking resonated again in her room.

All muscles tensed, and ready to fight or flight, she opened the door.

“You have got to be kidding me”.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope y'all liked this chapter - I know it's not very Carulia-centric, sorry about that. See you (hopefully) tomorrow for another chapter !  
> Or - come talk to me about femslash on tumblr! Always alexdumas-ghost there !


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, sorry (not really sorry) for the little cliff-hanger from yesterday ;)  
> This chapter is a bit short, but I'm writing other things on the side so ^^"  
> Hope you'll still like it !

Carmen Sandiego, the renowned thief who had kidnapped and tortured her partner was standing at the door.

Carmen Sandiego, who she had had, she could admit it, a bit of a crush on. Needless to say, that tiny crush had plummeted to an early death when the woman had hurt Devineaux.

But there was something worse than the infatuation; Julia thought she had at least a bit understood the woman’s motives – otherwise she would never have trusted her.

So, Carmen Sandiego was standing there, wearing something quite similar to what she was wearing when they met on the train. And she was holding… flowers. “You have got to be kidding me”.

The thief smiled nervously “I figured you really wouldn’t appreciate it if I entered by the window this time”.

“After you kidnapped and did _Dieu sait quoi_ to my partner? No, I sure wouldn’t appreciate it, Miss Sandiego.”

The thief winced at Julia’s tone. Good.

“That’s actually why I’m here. I didn’t kidnap him.”

The French woman scoffed “And why would I believe you? Someone saw you there!”

“I know” Carmen said calmly. “Because I was there. But I was trying to free him.”

Julia hesitated. What if this was another lie, another trap?

“I understand if you don’t believe me, Julia, but I want to explain. And I have proof that I’m not the one who kidnapped him.”

Julia regarded her suspiciously. “And the flowers?” La femme rouge turned redder than her coat. “I, errr, heard it was something people offered to their friends, sometimes?”

She was holding a bouquet of yellow flowers that was lovely. It certainly would have been a shame to refuse it. And Carmen seemed so earnest, her eyes so sincere...

“Oh et puis merde” Julia mumbled, and opened the door more fully to let Carmen enter. The thief’s smile grew ten times, and she winked as she entered “I heard that”.

Julia closed the door with a “click”.

“Oh! Before I forget, I have your clothes!” Carmen declared, giving her a package that Julia hadn’t noticed before. “Don’t worry, I washed them”.

Julia observed her for a few seconds, which made Carmen squirm a little. “For a thief, it seems you are awfully bad at keeping things”, and for the first time since Carmen had appeared at her door, she allowed herself to smile. “But I still haven’t made up my mind on whether I should let you go or not, so you better start talking quickly”. Nothing wrong with still being a bit snappy. She reminded herself that she had to stay focused, and not get distracted by seemingly nice actions, and an even nicer person.

And so Carmen began her retelling of the events.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to add Julia speaking a bit of French, it's not something that happened on the show as far as I can tell, but well, it could right?  
> so Dieu sait quoi means "God knows what" and her "oh et puis merde" could be translated by... "fuck this" I guess?  
> Let me know what you thought !


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys ! Sorry for the missed update yesterday, I received some awesome news and didn't really feel like writing ^^"  
> Thanks to everyone who commented - please keep telling what you think!

“You know” Player said just before she was due to leave to see Julia, “I heard humor was a great way to get people to trust you."

“Is that so, Player?” Carmen replied, sarcasm clear in her voice.

“Yeah! Like, you could make a pun with her name!”

“That is the most terrible idea I’ve ever heard” Carmen deadpanned. “I’m going to get her flowers”.

“Flowers?!” there were suddenly two other voices in the conversation, Zack and Ivy having joined over the comms. “Isn’t that supposed to be adult stuff for when you’re in love?” Zack asked, clearly disgusted with the idea.

Carmen sighed. “No actually, flowers can also be used to celebrate friendship.” She had read all about it the night before, but she wasn’t going to tell them that.

“But Red” Player whined “I have the perfect pun for Miss Argent! Don’t you wanna hear it?”

“Sure Player, go for it”.

* * *

 

After the red thief was finished with her explanations, Julia stayed silent for a while. That was a lot to take in. Devineaux kidnapped by the organisation they had been chasing for the past weeks; that organisation actually existing and having agents all over the world; Carmen being an ex-agent of said VILE.

After a few minutes, Carmen started fidgeting. “If you don’t believe me…”- “Give me a few more minutes, miss Sandiego” Julia interrupted, raising from her chair and starting to pace the room.

So many things were left unsaid, so many parts still in the shadows. She wished she had more time to think, but if she let Carmen go, she might never see her again.

Her eyes wandered to the yellow bouquet. “Tell me, why yellow? That isn’t a very common color to offer”.

Carmen blinked, startled by the unrelated question. “It’s apparently the color of friendship.”

“Is that what we are? Friends?” Julia asked, mildly surprised. She wasn’t sure what she was expecting, but friends didn’t seem to describe even a tenth of her weird and ever-changing relationship with Carmen.

“Hum, rather what I hope we can become. If you decide that I’m telling the truth”.

Julia closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Back to the harsh reality. She might be playing her career – even her life – on this, and all she had was gut instinct. She thought back to their first official meeting, that faithful night. Carmen had looked so frightened for Ivy, and she had placed her trust in Julia with little hesitation.

“I believe you”. The sigh of relief Carmen exhaled told her she had made the right choice. “However I wonder if it would be possible to see those pieces of evidence you mentioned before.”

“Sure! You do know that I could have showed you these before you made your decision, right?”

“They would have clouded my judgment on the only thing I had to decide whether to trust or not – you.”

And so Carmen showed her the footage they had of Devineaux in the hands of Coach Brunt, and the screenshots of the message Player had found on the deep web.

“So you really saved a man who has spent the better part of a year trying to put you behind bars?”

“You sound surprised, I thought you trusted me!” Carmen replied, but her eyes were twinkling with mirth. “Besides, he’s not you, he would never have caught me”.

Julia watched the video again. “What did they do to him?” She wasn’t _that_ fond of the man, but he certainly didn’t deserve what had happened to him. He was still in a coma, protected in an ACME facility.

“I’m not sure. I believe they used the same machine on a… friend of mine. He had no recollection of an entire year of his life.”

“That’s awful.”

“Maybe it’s for the best” Carmen said, but it sounded like she was trying to convince herself “that way, he doesn’t have to live a life of crime.”

A bell rang somewhere in the night, announcing the late hour.

“But it’s getting late! I wouldn’t want to deprive you of your beauty sleep – not that you need it, but still.”

Carmen rearranged her sweater, heading to the door. “Wait!” Julia reached out. “Will I see you again?”

“Of course! How will I know if my least-favorite detective is alright otherwise?” Julia rolled her eyes.

“And,” Carmen added, “we’re friends right?”

“Do you flirt as much with all of your friends, miss Sandiego?” 

The thief tilted her head, smiling widely. “Maybe, maybe not. You’re gonna have to get to know me more to find out.”

That said, she opened the door, winked, and left.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I decided to save the pun for later (it's terrible but i love it), I'll give a star to anyone who finds what it is !  
> (and as usual, alexdumas-ghost on tumblr ! come say hi, request things to be written ! )


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So we're beginning the second part of the story ! (not that it was planned that way, but I'm beginning to sound like a broken record at that point)  
> Enjoy !

After they had cleared the air, Julia and Carmen began seeing each other semi-regularly. ACME or Devineaux were of course not informed of that. Julia had delivered the proofs that Carmen was innocent in the kidnapping, but Chief refused to believe that she had completely abandoned VILE.

Even when Devineaux woke up, still very confused, but confirming that a ‘red coat that talked’ had freed his hands.

Chief didn’t trust Julia’s new ‘source’ on the incident, and most certainly didn’t believe Julia’s story of how she had obtained the video. “You have a very promising career in ACME Agent Argent, do not put it in jeopardy by trusting the wrong people”.

Chase couldn’t go on the field for at least a month, but insisted on helping catch the thief, and so Julia had ended up with the most obnoxious voice in her ear. The trauma had apparently damaged Devineaux’s language area, and he kept switching between several languages as he spoke to her.

“Salam, miss Argent, j’espère que vous avez bien dormi. We have plenty of work to do!”

The worst part was that he didn’t realize he was doing it. So when Julia had dared mention it, he had accused _her_ of talking nonsense. She had turned her earpiece off for an hour and had bought herself a sandwich in a blessed silence. After that, she never turned her earpiece on before breakfast, and certainly not before coffee.

* * *

 

Italian coffees truly were the best. She never had the chance to visit Turin before and was glad that a VILE trail had led her here.

She was sitting at the terrace of a café, the weather still quite lovely for October. “You should try their ‘latte con cafe’ sometime, it’s quite delicious”, a voice behind her said. Julia smiled. She had grown used to Carmen’s sudden appearances. “How are you, Carmen?” she asked as the woman sat in front of her after ordering.

“Oh, you know, just enjoying the wonderful city of Turin. Visiting some museums, seeing the medieval village!” Carmen answered, her eyes twinkling.

“Absolutely no criminal activity on the side?”

“Oh Jules, you wound me! Can’t a girl just want to spend some days in a wonderful city and see her friend?”- “Oh, grazie mille” she said to the waitress as she served her, flashing her a radiant smile. “Speaking of which! What are you doing tonight?” the thief asked, turning her smile towards Jules. Surely the thief knew by now what effect her smile had on Julia.

“I had nothing planned, but I’m guessing that now I’m doing _something_ ” Jules sassed, sipping her coffee.

“We are! I got two tickets for a nocturnal visit of the Egyptology museum!”

Jules’ jaw dropped. “No way! How did you get these?! The nocturnal visits are booked for months!”

“Oh, I know”. Carmen looked way too proud of herself.

Julia was suddenly suspicious “You’re really sure there’s no criminal activity involved?”

“Cross my heart.”

Goddess, she would believe almost anything Carmen said when she looked at her like that. This wasn’t good. Not good at all.

“So, should I pick you up at your hotel at 7.30? The visit’s at nine, which gives us time to have dinner before!” The thief sounded as excited as Julia felt.

Devineaux would throw a fit to end all fits if he knew about any of this. Julia couldn’t care less.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I visited that museum, it's super huge and fascinating ! Sorry for the short chapter, I wanted to post something before the end of the week end. As usual, let me know what you thought !


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! So remember the numerous times I said that this story wouldn't be long, etc? Well, this is the penultimate chapter (or if really I can't stop myself one of the last). The reason is simple, I start a very exciting but very time consuming job on Monday, so I want to finish this story before then.  
> That said, please enjoy !

“So Carmen, how was your date with miss Argent?”

Carmen sighed. Try being sneaky in a house full of criminal experts. For the hundredth time, she said “This was not-“ “Yeah, yeah, we know, ‘not a date’” Ivy replied. Zack was eying her with the same disbelief etched on his face. “Come on, Carm’, we know you like her! Why not admit it?”

“Of course I like her!” What was there not to like, really? “But she’s just a friend! And it’s dangerous enough for all of us to maintain that relationship as it is!”

Did they really think she hadn’t thought of asking Jules to be something other than friends? But it wasn’t fair to ask this of Julia. The twins stayed quiet.

“I’m sorry, guys. I’m just… not in the mood to have this conversation.” She eyed the clock. “Plus you two should totally be in bed at this hour!” They both rolled their eyes at her, but headed to their bedrooms. Zack stopped before entering his room, “Night Carm”. “Good night Zack.”

* * *

 

Soon after, she was lying in bed, thinking of none other than Julia Argent. Their… non-date had been really fun. Carmen – via Player – had found a little restaurant away from the tourists, which served amazing pastas. The gelati were also out of this world. And the conversation! Carmen was used to being surrounded by experts in their fields – but Julia truly was passionate about history, in a way that made her eyes shine when she talked. Carmen had never seen someone so genuinely happy to walk around a whole gallery of statues of a vengeful and ancient deity. The copies of the Book of the Dead had also fascinated Julia. (Carmen too, if she was honest with herself. The weighing of the heart against a feather had always captivated her).

So really, there was no denying that Carmen would love giving a go at dating.

But as long as she was an outlaw, she didn’t see herself dating. Criminal masterminds weren’t really her type. Cute nerdy detectives with a functional moral compass seemed more her style. Then again, stopping VILE for good could take her years. It seemed like an unsolvable equation – not that she was much of a maths person.

She suddenly thought about Shadow-san. He seemed willing to help her take down VILE, if the hard-drive was any indication. But how far would he go? And when did he decide to betray VILE? Had he been waiting for a partner to start an attack on the organization all those years? That didn’t seem right, since he had hoped that she wouldn’t start a criminal life. She needed a way to contact him. And a plan.

She got out of bed and activated her earpiece. “Hey Player, still up?” “Red, it’s only 9pm here. But shouldn’t _you_ be in bed?” “I need to brainstorm”.

* * *

 

A few weeks later, while in Nairobi, Julia got a note that read “Jules, thank you for being such an amazing friend. I’m going away for a while. It might be a few months, or even a year before we see each other again. I am deeply sorry about that. Given the circumstances, I can’t possibly ask you to keep ACME off my back, but I would be very grateful if you did. Wishing you the best. - C”

With the note came a bouquet of yellow flowers.

Julia Argent had never felt so angry.

Screw Carmen Sandiego.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know, I know, I'm not a good person to post this on Valentine's day, but well... you can always yell at me here, or Prompt me on tumblr! I would love some femslash prompts for today :") (as always, alexdumas-ghost on tumblr!).  
> (There is a gallery of Sekhmet statues in that museum, and it's really dope and impressive)


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And this is the final chapter !  
> Enjoy :D

If it weren’t for the flowers, she would have believed it was a joke. But the second Julia laid eyes on them, she knew Carmen was serious. Was she in more trouble than she had let on? Was there a problem with Carmen’s friends? Had Julia done something wrong? Surely Carmen would have told her face to face.

Julia was furious. Keep ACME off Carmen’s back? Really? She had an actual job to do for Pete’s sake!

* * *

 

But as the months passed, Julia’s anger faded. It had become clear that Carmen was intent on not seeing her, for whatever reason, but she still let plenty of clues leading to VILE, wherever Jules and Chase happened to be.

So Julia was left with a frustrating colleague – who despite his best efforts was often mean to her and still spoke two to four languages in a single sentence, an interesting but just as frustrating job, and no friend.

La femme rouge had left a lasting impression on her. And while Julia was trying to have a social life whenever she was in France, her travelling schedule was too inconsistent to make plans easily.

Exactly a year after she had saved Ivy, a postal card that read “Thanks a latte” was delivered at her door. It was signed with a drawing of an ivy leaf. _That_ had stirred a lot of unwanted emotions. Telling herself she didn’t care wasn’t working. So she had thrown herself into work – even more so than before. She had also started compulsively reading about thieves and their history.

She missed Carmen.

She missed the retellings of Zack and Ivy’s pranks on each other, that always followed their bickering, or of how Player always managed to be awake when they were on a mission, no matter the time difference. She missed grey eyes and an easy smile and how “Jules” sounded when Carmen said it. All in all, she missed Carmen and her crew. It was nine months after the thief had disappeared from her life that Julia had finally allowed herself to admit that.

She had thought about trying to find Player, but using ACME’s resources for personal reasons didn’t feel right. Even though, reasoned another part of her, finding Player meant finding Carmen – which could be a major hit in finding VILE.  But finding Carmen meant imprisoning her, and while Julia desperately wanted answers, the thought of Carmen behind bars made her sick. So Julia waited.

* * *

 

About 13 months after Carmen left, Jules was woken up by a heavy knocking on her hotel room door. After Devineaux’ kidnapping, ACME had made all of their agents work on their self-defense skills. But something told her she wouldn’t be using her Krav-maga skills on whoever was knocking.

Sure enough, when she opened the door, four people were waiting.

Ivy was there, all restless energy, grinning at her. The boy beside her had the same grin and hair color. That had to be Zack. Another boy – brown hair, around the same age as the twins, looking far too sleep-deprived for his age, was standing next to Ivy. None other than Player. And behind them, almost hiding, was Carmen Sandiego, looking tired to her bones.

Before anyone could say a word, Zack exclaimed “Jules! Nice meeting ya! We’re no longer in the stealing business!” Without missing a beat, Ivy punched him in the arm.

Player cleared his throat “What Zack meant to say was ‘Sorry for the intrusion, may we come in?’”

Julia stared at the group for a few seconds, flabbergasted, taking in the fact that they were _all_ there, then opened the door. They started filtering in, Carmen entering last. “Hi”, the thief said softly. Up close, she looked just as tired, but Julia could also see satisfaction in her eyes. Carmen looked like a cat who had finally, _finally,_ gotten the canary.

Julia smiled back “Took you long enough”.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Nah, just kidding, there will be an epilogue ;)  
> Please let me know what you thought! Would you like me to write more Carulia? (I actually already have a one-shot on the way, but, you know!)


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dun dun dun, here is the last chapter ! As y'all know, this story is longer than I anticipated, and I truly didn't think that so many of you would read and comment! So, thank you so much for that, it truly means a lot.  
> Enjoy !

After everyone was installed at the tiny kitchen table, the twins – with Player chiding in sometimes – explained in great details what they had been up to for the last year. Julia had guessed some of it, and discovered a whole bunch by herself when ACME had arrested some of the faculty staff of VILE a week before. The Red team had certainly been busy. Carmen stayed quiet, silently observing Julia during the whole retelling.

When they were finished, Ivy asked “What about you Jules? How was your year?” 

Exhausting, frustrating, incredibly lonely, but in the end very rewarding. Not that she could say that. “Well, Inspector Devineaux certainly kept me busy, and _someone_ kept leaving clues about major thefts so we managed to get VILE”.

They chatted for a little while, Julia glad to finally meet Player and Zack. The youngster trio seemed to like her, and she wondered more than once what Carmen had told them about her. About an hour later, the teens started yawning, despite their attempts to cover it.

“Might be time to hit the beds, gang” Carmen announced, looking at them fondly.

They all said their goodbyes without much protestation, which proved how spent they were. Before closing the door, Player asked “Hey Red, aren’t you coming?”

“I’ll see you tomorrow morning; I still have a few things to talk about with Jules”. Player looked at Carmen with mischief, and murmured something in her ear that Julia couldn’t catch. Carmen swatted him in the arm, then closed the door.

* * *

 

They were alone. It felt almost like the nights at the beginning of their relationship.

“So, besides chasing an evil organization, what have you been up to lately?” Carmen asked, casually browsing the room, seemingly in search of something interesting. Her hands hadn’t been in Julia’s view during the team’s invasion of her room, but now that she was fiddling with them, Julia could see that something was wrong. Carmen was wearing gloves – which in itself wasn’t that unusual but something… “Carmen, what happened to your hand?” The hands suddenly stopped moving, and it became clear that Carmen was missing two fingers on her left hand.

Julia wasn’t much of a sports-woman, but the speed at which she was by Carmen’s side must have broken some kind of records. “Carmen?! What happened?” 

Carmen wouldn’t meet her eyes. “It’s nothing, it happened a while ago”.

“Carmen. I have not seen you in over a year – and I do not even know why! I understand if you do not want to talk about it, but please, do not say it is nothing.”

Carmen sighed, finally looking Julia in the eyes. “I’m sorry, Jules. I realized after sending you that note that it wasn’t my smartest move.” Julia decided to let go of the hand situation – for now at least.

“No, it certainly wasn’t” Julia replied, crossing her arms. “Why would you leave like that?” She felt the tears starting to fall. _Merde._ Now wasn’t the time to be a cry-baby! But between the most tiring year of her life, the relief to see Carmen again and the shock of discovering _something_ had happened to her… It was all a bit too much.

She suddenly found herself engulfed in a hug, Carmen’s arms surrounding her. “I’m truly sorry, Julia. I wanted to protect you from VILE. I was afraid of what they would do to you if they discovered we were friends.”

Her forehead against Carmen’s shoulder, Julia asked “So it’s okay for Ivy, Zack or Player to risk their life for you, but not me?” It made no sense, but she was too tired to be angry.

She felt Carmen shake her head. “I have ways to protect them, and they knew exactly what we were getting into, from the start. I couldn’t ask you to- ”

“You could have” Julia interrupted. Gently freeing herself from Carmen’s hold, she added “You could have asked me. I was aware of the possibility of VILE coming after me when I befriended you.”

Carmen shook her head, smiling sadly. “I really am an idiot.”

“That you are, miss Sandiego” she said tenderly, capturing Carmen’s hands in hers. “But I appreciate the sentiment nonetheless, even if I would have loved a little bit more communication”.

“Noted”. Carmen laced their fingers together, looking suddenly nervous all over again. “Jules… I don’t want to be your friend.”

“Oh”. Talk about getting stabbed in the heart. She freed her hand, taking a step back.

“Oh, no, not like that! I mean, I _love_ being your friend!” Carmen added. “What I mean is, I want to be your friend, and something else.” Julia was getting confused.

“Urgh, I’m so bad at this” Carmen cried out, looking frustrated at not being able to explain herself. The thief – ex-thief? – took a deep breath. “Julia Argent, will you go on a date with me?”

Julia’s heart restarted beating. And she laughed, collapsing on a chair.

Carmen looked at her for a few seconds, then started laughing too. When they both calmed down, Carmen kneeled besides Julia. “So, I hope it’s not my proposition that made you laugh so hard, because otherwise you truly know how to hurt a girl’s feelings! Why, miss Argent, I can finally and honestly say that the only money I’m after is you, and you laugh at me!”

“This is probably the worst pun I’ve ever heard about my name”, Julia stated, smiling at the woman next to her. “And well, you _are_ terrible at expressing your feelings”.

“Shut up” Carmen mumbled, going red.

“Make me” – “Gladly”.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (That pun truly is terrible... for those who don't get it, Argent means both "silver" and "money" in French)  
> I grew terribly attached to this story and their relationship, so I might post a sequel at some point ! (I was also requested the One thing i was afraid to be asked, the missing year from Carmen's pov, and Boy i bet you want it even more now, so I guess I brought that on myself! Just kidding, I just have to figure out a way to actually take VILE down :")  
> Again, don't hesitate to leave a comment to tell me what you thought, or prompt me, here or on tumblr !


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